Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, was elected to represent the 19th Legislative District in 2016, a rare Republican winner in the traditionally Democratic district. He noted that in the last election, Republicans did well in the district, favoring President Trump, Bill Bryant in his race against Jay Inslee for governor, and Steve McLaughlin for Commissioner of Public Lands — all Republicans.
The district includes Aberdeen, Westport and Cosmopolis. It’s spread over all of Pacific and Wahkiakum counties and parts of Grays Harbor, Cowlitz and Lewis. Most of the voters live in Cowlitz and Grays Harbor counties. Walsh is running against Democratic challenger Erin Frasier, a workforce development professional who lives on a farm in Pe Ell in Lewis County.
Unemployment rates are down significantly in the district and the Legislature was able to fund K-12 education to the liking of the State Supreme Court, he said, but there is more work to be done on school funding and attracting better jobs with higher median incomes to the region, Walsh added.
He is against the notion of a capital gains tax, which taxes profits from the sales of a capital assets, for instance, stocks, businesses and real estate. He called it a “chiller” to the growth and sustainability of small businesses in particular. In fact, any new taxes against small businesses, especially an income tax, “could tip them over. I think having small businesses pay more taxes is just wrong.”
Walsh mentioned Overstock.com and its call center in the Satsop Business Park as an example of what a large service industry can bring to the region. He said the company was overwhelmed by the large number of qualified applicants for their customer service positions. “There is no shortage of human resources here,” he said, adding that, to build on the success of that venture, “we need to find the next level of service operation, one that could find someone who started at Overstock and move them up the chain into management positions.”
A key to attracting businesses to the region is to “get rid of the Growth Management Act and turn the business of permitting back to the counties,” he said. Port expansion, including plans for the Renewable Energy Group to up its bulk liquid storage capacity and BHP’s proposed potash shipping and storage facility, could mean big gains for the local economy, “but the projects are jammed up by the Department of Ecology.”
He said the Department of Ecology is an example of an agency growing beyond its original purpose.
“Ecology is supposed to provide support to the counties, but regulatory creep has taken over and they have gone from an advisory position to a rulemaking position,” said Walsh. And it’s not just Ecology; Walsh said the Department of Fish and Wildlife and Department of Natural Resources are also “running amok” when it comes to rule making. He said the Legislature can rein them in using “the power of the purse” — the amount of money distributed to the agencies — and possibly some policy changes.
Walsh gets particularly vocal when discussing the Department of Ecology’s recent decision to ban the use of a pesticide used by oyster growers in Pacific County to control the population of burrowing shrimp that are making acres of shellfish beds unusable for oyster production. He believes Ecology refused to work with oyster producers to do practical small-scale tests of the pesticide to study water quality impacts; Walsh said producers offered to do their own studies on the pesticide and share the data collected with Ecology, but the agency turned the producers down.
“I will continue to advocate for that critical small business,” said Walsh.
Walsh said the K-12 funding legislation passed last session addressed only half of the equation; thereare two parts, how the state collects money, and how the money is distributed. The McCleary legislation focused on how the money is collected. Some rural districts, Aberdeen for instance, may end up with less money for programs once teacher pay increases are factored in. That’s on Walsh’s radar in the 2019 session.
Part of the legislative package increased the amount of money for education that comes directly from the state, while limiting the amount local municipalities can raise on their own. This meant putting a limit on the amount of property tax levy money districts can collect, capping it at 1.5 percent per $1,000 assessed value. Walsh said this is good for local taxpayers, who will see their tax rates drop over the next few years.
He said the distribution of education money is complicated and not transparent. Certain districts get more or less depending on demographics, the number of more experienced teachers they have and many other factors. He would like to see that model changed to a more streamlined, transparent model, which he said would be more fair to rural districts.
Walsh is the owner and operator of Silver Lake Publishing, which publishes manuals related to economics, health care, regulatory affairs, risk theory, insurance and security.
